If this is an off night for Jerry, it just goes to show you what a great musician he is. He can be quite good while asleep probably.
Clapton can only dream of being as as great!

Literally just listened to Steve Parrish on Sirius talking about the show. Apparently Jerry whoofed down 4 valium's 10 min before show. Steve said it was hitting Jerry really hard at showtime. He was literally carrying Jerry up the steps to the stage. Said his eyes were all over the place. Bobby asked what the hell was going on, and Steve held up 4 fingers and said "Valium". They all walked back off stage, and had a table full of uppers...Bennies, Coke,....etc. Jerry inhaled everything he could and came back out and played a buzzed up speed show when he could. Steve said it was the worst he's ever seen Jerry.

I was at this concert at the SIU Arena. Jerry Garcia was so out of it that he eventually sat down on stage and then just walked off. This playlist shows 12 songs? It seemed shorter than that. The crowd was yelling and everybody was complaining. Bad show.

Was just reading Steve Parish's book Home Before Daylight.

Prior to the show, Rock Scully wanders in with 4 valiums. Parish, Kid C., and Jerry are backstage. Garcia leaps to his feet and eats all 4 at once.

That's the scoop, according to Parish.

I was at this show and can confirm that Jerry was so stoned he sat down on the drum riser and nodded off during the show. The papers the next day said he had a cold and the medicine made him sleepy. Right. I recall it was a pretty lousy show. He was so wacked out they were playing around him. It has been a long time ago, but I think they may have finished without him on stage.

I was there for their only Carbondale show. I was in college and went to the show with friends. Nice to be able to hear it for what seems like the first time! One of the great shows that Carbondale hosted in the late 70's.

Is this show available for download anywhere? I am a new Deadhead, and this show happened on the day I was born. I'd love to have it.

I am intrigued by this show after having read parish's book. His description, to paraphrase, of the beginning of the dough knees "THROIIIINNNNNNGGGGG".... listening to Bertha I have to say wow, thats pretty forgetful and mumbly on the words. Jerry?

Well anyhow. Recording qual is good but incomplete and a definite curiousity seeker.

What really happened in carbondale is a mystery still. I am the source of the 90 minutes of music that does exist and how that came about is an interesting story. I caught up with the tour in KC two nites later. My buddy had flown out from the east coast ahead of me and was at carbondale with a deck but no mics. He could find no one to patch into. He does remember some strange sequence but was otherwise distracted and not paying attention to the show. Anyway, two days later after the first KC show, my somewhat connected buddy arranged us a ride back to the hotel with some of the crew. On the way one of the ultrasound crew asked me to run him a copy of that nites KC show which I had taped. He handed me a 90 minute cassette to put it on. That cassette turned out to be the master SBD of the 1st set at carbondale. Any SBD was a very rare treat in those days. Needless to say I didn't record over it. I still have the master cassette, but I did send a copy back to Dan Healy so the band would have it to archive. I have not listened to the stream posted here, but all of the set lists are wrong and/or suspect. The Bertha has a cut in it but on the master tape it actually comes to an end, followed by Bobby's "we're gonna take a short break". Bertha ended the 1st set! It was not followed by Good Lovin and did not close set 2. If the end of Bertha is not included here I could upload it if someone helps me with the technical aspects. Because of the way I came to possess what, after nearly 30 years, remains the only record (albeit partial) of carbondale I have always taken an interest in finding a full copy or accurate description of the show. My quest remains unfulfilled. I have not read Parish's book but it makes sense that the band veered into drums in the 1st set to give Jerry a chance to rebound. He started off very strong but you can sense the change later in the set. Anyway, there's a bit of minutia for those who might be interested. Peace Tom F

This show is notable for the revival of Don't Ease Me In, the first since 1974. And it's a rocking, tight version with a rippin' vocal from Jerry. Also notice that the band is starting to rework the set list and the order.

This show is better than most of the 5-star-rated shows of the 1990s and mid '80's. The reviewers below give this 1 star because of a rumor of Jerry being high--as if that never happened before. One has to wonder if they even heard this recording. Listen to this show and compare it to others -- Jerry plays some fast and articulate guitar here, as in Jack A Roe. His voice is clear and powerful, and he delivers the notes, nothing like the slurred speech of some later shows--shows where Bob can't hit the notes as well. Here, Bob sounds great.

The main problem with this stream is that so much of the second half of the show is missing. We don't have Cassidy, Peggy-O, The Music Never Stopped, Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain, or Black Peter, Good Lovin', U.S. Blues. I hope the rest of this show surfaces somewhere.

Apparently, I should attack this show with caution due to the entertaining myths that have survived to land in Parish's book. Anyways, the first three songs go down the throat without any sickly bumps. "Mama" is dedicated to who? Jack starts out uncertain and non-distictive but soon Jerry puts his imprint on it. "LLR" has some unlistenable clunky moments, but it's performed with above-average might. "TLEO" is standard. Please, please change the arrangement soon to the 'All New New Minglewood Blues.' This type feels shoved down my throat. "Stagger" is trudgingly paced tho generally well-performed. "Dancin" is curiously spaciously empty for an attempted epic. The movement into a "Drum" break recaptures my attention which deftly segues into a fine "Miracle." "Bertha" closes this first (?) set nicely.

I'm not sure what's missing, what set "Dancin" was performed in, heck...what night this was I heard, But, it's not the disaster alluded to by the previous writer. The myth may be true, but it makes Jerry that much more of a 'man' if he was able to withstand the powerful presence of a tab and play a decent show to boot. Discipline I could never muster...

Accd to Mountain Girl in the Robert Greenfield book, Dark Star-An oral bigraphy of Jerry Garcia, she claims Jerry was allergic to valium, which is what almost killed him during the coma in 1986.

"Because he'd been thrashing around pretty good in the hospital, they shot him up with Valium to get him to lie still for the catscan. Jerry was allergic to valium. They killed him. His heart stopped. He died. The hospital did not want anyone to know this but he died. They had to resusitate him, put him on a respirator, give him a bunch of zap, zap, zap. Code Blue..." p216-217.

According to Steve Parish's book Home Before Daylight (p. 201), Jerry took four valiums thiry minutes before this show and the first sound out of his guitar was SPRRRROINGG! Unfortunately, Don't Ease Me In fades in on this tape so we'll just have to imagine what that sounded like. This isn't a good show by any means, but better than I'd expected based on Parish's account.

One star for overcoming chemical adversity, or at least battling it to a draw.